Bodin is playing the ukulele while I write. Mom asked how I felt to leave Lantana, and I said it was like “noooo and yessss” at the same time. You don’t want to leave, but you’re excited to go.

Bodin says he kinda felt that he really wanted to go to Bahamas, but he also wanted to stay and play online a bit more… because he was so close to winning something special on his game.

After we left the dock in Lantana, we motored down the ICW on the first day. We were online gaming all the way to Fort Lauderdale. We fueled up in Boca Raton, continued south on the ICW, and then we anchored in Lake Silvia in Fort Lauderdale. Old friends of ours rafted up with their boat, and our parents chatted for a while.

Next day, we left in the afternoon. The channel out to the ocean was rough. A giant cruise ship passed us. When we were finally in the Atlantic, the port side engine shut down. Dad didn’t know why. I came up and kept watch while my Mom and Dad worked on the engine. Dad bled the air out of the engine, and it started. Then we set off to cruise across the ocean. It was pretty flat. We had the sails up. The ocean got calmer as the sun set over the land.

Mom made toasted ham sandwiches for dinner. We watched some movies that we downloaded on the iPad, then we went to sleep because Mom forced us. At night you’re getting rocked to sleep by the motion of boat. I like sleeping on a boat better than in a house. Bodin says the only bad thing is that the beds on board are really high. While we slept, Mom and Dad sailed us across the Gulf Stream.

When I woke up, we were in the Bahamas. The water was completely flat. As we neared Chub Cay, the water turned so clear. Bodin and I sat at the bow of the boat and we had our whistles: 1 whistle was for when we spotted a conch, 2 whistles were for small fish, 3 whistles for starfish, 4 whistles for big fish and stingrays and 5 whistles were for sharks. We saw a huge barracuda swim past the boat.

We jumped overboard as soon as we anchored. The water was warm on top, but when I dove down it was cold. Bodin and I saw a stingray buried in the sand, some conch and a starfish.

Next day, when I woke up we were sailing already. No engines. Mom and Dad said the NE wind was perfect to sail to Andros. We were headed to Morgan’s Bluff, and the ocean was calm.